Updated

02/20/2015 - 10:45am

Chinese New Year begins next week and all across China people are getting ready. It’s a time for visiting friends and relatives. Throughout the country, people stock up on fruit to eat at home with family and to give as gifts. These days, Chinese shoppers are opening up their wallets for a particular luxury item — imported fruit.

Long the home of watery lagers, China is becoming a big, new market for craft brews. But thanks to red tape and government restrictions, it is foreign breweries instead of local beer makers who are filling the demand for China's beer lovers.

It is the largest ancient burial site in Greece and, just a month after its announcement, it has brought new life to two small villages 60 miles east of Thessaloniki. But who was important enough to be buried there? Meanwhile in India, when some families are planning a wedding, the first to-do is to hire a marriage detective. And Russian President Putin decides to intervene in a children's show, all in today's Global Scan.

White actors playing "experts" regularly appear in Chinese commercials. But now, as Chinese consumers grow more sophisticated, more and more Chinese actors are taking over the lab coats and boss roles in TV ads.

You may not expect to find government versus opposition debates among school kids in a one-party state. But these debate contests are part of a plan to instill independent thinking in young Chinese who will have to compete in a global market.

The McDonald's menu in China is looking sparse ever since investigative reporters there filmed a local firm allegedly repackaging old meat — even scooping it off the floor — and selling it to fast food outlets. The company, Shanghai Husi Food, is a major supplier to many foreign chains in China, including McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks.

When someone takes an oath of office, the idea has been to take a vow on something with permanence, not something you upgrade every few years. Not anymore. And Indian women are flocking to a new film with a feminist message, while Japanese workers are being pressed to take vacations, in today's Global Scan.

Long the home of watery lagers, China is becoming a big, new market for craft brews. But thanks to red tape and government restrictions, it is foreign breweries instead of local beer makers who are filling the demand for China's beer lovers.

Updated

02/19/2014 - 12:45pm

Is love, romantic love, a universal emotion? In the West, it often seems we live, die and even kill for love. Love is passionate, foolish and cherished. But in many cultures, arranged marriages are the norm and romantic love is, well, disruptive. It turns out people across the globe feel romantic love, but they don't necessarily act on it.

China may be experiencing a golden age of memorable English names. Millions of young Chinese are giving themselves English names of all shapes and sizes. But there’s also evidence that the trend may be peaking.

Updated

04/03/2014 - 3:00pm

Early skyscrapers were a uniquely American creation. More specifically, they were a Chicago innovation. But China has now taken the lead when it comes to building the world's newest and tallest skyscrapers. Now, for its newest skyscrapers, China's turning to Chicago for some help.

The Chinese government announced Monday that it plans to take more than five million vehicles off the road to improve air quality, including 330,000 cars in Beijing. This announcement comes only weeks after the World Health Organization announced that only 12 percent of cities reporting on air quality meet their standards for safe levels. With the help of our newsroom designers, we put together a list of places recently affected by deteriorating air quality and incidents of smog.

The McDonald's menu in China is looking sparse ever since investigative reporters there filmed a local firm allegedly repackaging old meat — even scooping it off the floor — and selling it to fast food outlets. The company, Shanghai Husi Food, is a major supplier to many foreign chains in China, including McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks.

Updated

02/20/2015 - 10:45am

Chinese New Year begins next week and all across China people are getting ready. It’s a time for visiting friends and relatives. Throughout the country, people stock up on fruit to eat at home with family and to give as gifts. These days, Chinese shoppers are opening up their wallets for a particular luxury item — imported fruit.

Russian roofers aren't afraid of heights. And they can't be. They're hobbyists who seek out tall buildings to climb, looking for the perfect picture or perhaps just peace and quiet in the middle of a busy city. While their hobby isn't legal, it is drawing more attention.